What’s in a name? Everything, especially when you become nonexistent because of it.

My name, for the record, is Katharine Elizabeth Gallego-Todd. Note the hyphen – a short line that has led to major confusion.

Why so much hatred toward a hyphenated name? Because it wasn’t supposed be that way in the first place. It’s the result of a nurse’s lack of attention to detail. With just that one accidental hyphen, a person’s life – my life – has been affected in the most obnoxious way for all my 27 years.

My parents gave me a name – a name with meaning, with purpose, with the idea that I was to be a unique individual. They named me Katharine, after Katharine Hepburn, a strong female role model and my mother’s favorite actress. My middle name, Elizabeth, is a hand-me-down from my mother’s side of the family.

As for the surname? Gallego was my mother’s maiden name; Todd is my father’s last name.

Here is where it all went wrong: Gallego was supposed to be a second middle name, not part of a hyphenated last name, i.e., Katharine Elizabeth Gallego Todd.

Fast-forward to when I am 16 and having my first experience with the DMV. I take to the DMV my birth certificate and Social Security card. When I finally get to the window, I’m told my name is incorrect on my Social Security card.

Wait, what? How can that be? Who am I? Did my parents lie to me?

What the DMV employee was referring to was that on my birth certificate my second middle name, Gallego, was incorrectly attached to my last name, Todd, with that despicable hyphen. This was different from my Social Security card, which had no hyphen.

To correct this error, she told me, I had to get in touch with the Social Security office and have them mail me a new card – hyphen included.

I did, and after about a month, I received my new Social Security card and went back to the DMV. My mission was successful. Or so I thought.

Move forward again, to when I’m 26. I had spent the past 10 years trying to reassure people that “Katie” is short for “Katharine,” and that when they see the name “Todd” it is short for Gallego-Todd.

I landed a new job after six years of employment history and a few years of school and volunteer work. All of those employers had to know my name and have it on important documents at some point, right? But my soon-to-be-manager at my new job told me my Social Security card had the wrong name on it.

Again? Yes, again. The Social Security office made another typo I hadn’t noticed for 10 years. “Todd” had become “Tood.”

Once again, I had to make a trip to the Social Security office to fix the mistake.

But there’s a silver lining here: I recently got married, and have to make the trip anyway as I’m planning on changing my last name to my married name. No more will I have to correct people on the spelling of “Todd” or “Gallego.” (“Yes, there are two d’s in Todd. No, there is no ‘s’ at the end of Gallego. No, it’s not Gallegos. Yes, I’m sure!”) And best of all, no more hyphens.

Before changing to my married name, though, I thought it would be easier to wait until I was settled into my new job at the Register. Somewhere along the line, however, my married name was thrown out there to the Register folks, so in my paperwork for my new job I am known as “Katie Todd Quarto.” No! That’s not my legal name yet!

So now I have three last names? I corrected my new bosses and dodged a bullet. Or so I thought.

A few days went by and I noticed that all my paperwork, and my computer login information, had the legal spelling of my name (Katharine Elizabeth Gallego-Todd). Then, it happened: All of a sudden, I didn’t exist in my new job because one piece of paperwork had me as Katie Todd Quarto.

Because of this error, I was told, I couldn’t get paid – that I didn’t exist.

Once I explained to my superiors what the problem was, however, they fixed it. Looking at the email chain that told me the problem had been corrected, I scrolled down and noticed this slice of conversation between employees trying to figure out who I am: “Is her last name Gallegos?” “Is it Todd?”

Ugh, I can’t win.

But soon my name will change, and I will say farewell to that hyphen forever. I will dump dirt on its grave and never have to worry again.

A name means so much. A name spelled correctly means so much more.

Bottom line for parents: Do yourself a favor and name your child something simple. Giving your child more than three names may seem, at the time, a sweet and sentimental gesture, but your kid will only grow up hating you for it.

Now, this is me typing my legal birth name for the last time: Katharine Elizabeth Gallego-Todd.

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